Artist Features

We have published a lot of amazing "How I Play" videos over the years here on DJ TechTools with artists including DubFire, Stimming, Chris Leibing, Kink and many others. One of the most common requests has been to do one with with Richie Hawtin. If you've seen this techno master on tour and wondered what DJ gear he uses, this video is a good overview. Check out the detailed interview with the founder of Minus and Plus 8 after the jump.

At the end of April, the DJ Techtools team went to the Further Future festival in Nevada, with one goal: to talk to unique DJs, bands, and producers about artistic process. In the first video from this series, we talked with Mike Relm, highly-skilled turntablist, VJ, and current DJ for The Pharcyde. Watch to learn his views on DJ technology, playing with a live rap group, and keeping his DJing style unique.

This year, a classic US festival focused on the creative side of electronic music will once again fill the streets of Detroit with a wide variety of musical flavors. Many of these artists are selected because they play their music in very original and creative ways, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to highlight a few of them and the equipment they use on stage.

In today’s video, we talk to Grimecraft, one of the first DJs to enter the alternate sphere of DJing virtual reality. The DJ system he uses, “TheWave”, was first covered in a previous article here on DJ TechTools. In this piece, we look at what it’s actually like to DJ in VR with TheWave, using the HTC Vive, and pose the question: “Will we all become virtual reality DJs?”

It's rare that a duo comes along in the dance music world and does something completely rebellious and unique - but after a recent Mr Bill and KJ Sawka interview we were inspired and excited. See how live drumming, Ableton manipulation, and finger drumming all are combined in their behind-the-booth video inside this article.

The West Coast bass scene has been one of the most constantly evolving music worlds in the United States for the last decade, and one of our favorite producers in that world is Portland's EPROM. In today's How I Play video, we got a chance to get an EPROM interview and tour of his live performance setup featuring a DJTT Midi Fighter Pro! Keep reading to see how he uses it alongside Ableton Live.

We had a chance to shoot a How I Play interview with French producer and live act Rodriguez Jr. recently at Public Works here in San Francisco, and he took us on a tour of his live setup. His rig focuses around Ableton Live, with a few other bits of gear as well that allow him to do live improvisation and layering - watch the full Rodriguez Jr. interview inside!

For a new video series recorded at Riverside Studios in Berlin, we've asked talented studio producers to share their secrets on bringing live instruments into to electronic music productions. In this first episode, production duo Pan-Pot share how they record a traditional African kalimba into Ableton Live and resample it on the fly. Watch the full thing after the jump.